Local community reacts to death of George Floyd, ensuing protests
Like many around the country, a group of eight teenagers from the Coachella Valley found themselves on social media expressing their disgust with racial inequality.
“What happened to the cornerstone of American justice where everyone is innocent until proven guilty? Since when does a police officer get to choose whether a man or a woman stays alive or dies at the scene of a crime?” Areli Galvez said in an Instagram post.
The social media posts got a lot of attention. That’s when these teenagers, some who didn’t even know each other before, came together for a cause and started the “Enough is Enough” initiative.
The meeting time and location has been updated since first reported by KESQ.
"Join us to help spread awareness for those who have lost their lives to police brutality. We intend to peacefully protest the murders of black men and women throughout the nation who have lost their lives due to racial injustice," the post reads.
“We’ve been organizing everything ourselves, and so far it’s been going really well. Right now, we’re actually planning to do an itinerary. We want to have guest speakers, mostly community leaders,” said Amor Toland, one of the event's organizers.
Next Saturday, June 6, in Downtown Palm Springs, the girls plan to host a peaceful protest to raise awareness for social injustice and police brutality against the black community.
“Participating in this protest doesn’t mean that you hate the police, it doesn’t mean that you’re a certain type of race. It means that you’re going to life one another up and you’re going to stand against this injustice and unite together because we can make this world a better place,” said Hina Malik, another organizer.
Police around the nation, and here at home, have also been responding to the recent events.
“What’s happening in Minnesota, you don’t know what it took to get to that point, but we know it was wrong, we do know that, and how we respond to wrong is very important. You know, what can we do to make it better. People have a right to express their concerns and request changes, and there’s a process to that," said Indio Police Department's Public Information Officer Benjamin Guitron.
Guitron says the department is grateful for the insight of Chief Washburn, who has dealt with similar events while working in Seattle.
“How do you in your community address things, when situations come up where your police department has gotten involved in a situation that doesn’t look good. So I think one thing is just looking at what we’re doing right, and what we can walk away learning from this, because every day it’s a learning curve,” Guitron said.
Representative Raul Ruiz also released a statement on the recent events.
A peaceful vigil for George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery will be held in Indio Monday, June 1. More information on the vigil can be found here.
